Greetings all,
I am in a bad mood for the last couple of days and when this happens it usually reflects to my modelling. Instead of working on my Sdkfz 251, I decided to halt the project (otherwise I might get angry at something small and break the kit apart in a fury... Psychologists call it "Projection" I guess).
So, in order to clear my mind and divert my attention away from life's problems, I decided to begin my "Bucket Frenzy" project, for which I have been gathering kits. Yes, the buckets here are M-113s and the aim of my frenzy is to build as much M-113 variants as possible. Currently I have 5 suitable kits and here I go with the most basic one, in terms of plastic kit.
My latest project... The phantom M-113!
Just joking of course. I first cleaned up the bench (clean bench, clean mind) and then tested my camera. I am trying to use my new Sigma DG 28-300 Macro lens. It is supposedly better than my old Nikkor 18-70 kit lens, but the photos I take are always darker and not as crisp. It is either I still can not get used to this lens or it is not as good as they told me.
WARNING: The lighting of the following photos will change dramatically from one to another, I am still fiddling with the lens. Seems it not only fools my eye, but the camera as well. When the camera screams "Over-exposure!", I get normal pictures. When the camera thinks everything is cool, the photos are drastically dark.
Ok, here's the kit. It is an old dog from 1974 and it's way older than I am (produced in 1983). Actually when this kit was first molded and produced, my parents have not even met yet, so I should show respect to it, don't you think?
Besides, this is actually an award I won for third place in Modern Armor at a local AFV contest, I must build it not to anger the Gods of Modelling.
Yes, this is a weird looking M-113. Fact is, it is a modified Australian M-113. As far as I know, the Aussies needed some extra kick, so they put turrets from their old Saladin armored cars onto some M-113s. These were designated as Fire Support Vehicles (FSV) and 8 of them were deployed in Vietnam in 1971. The rest, I don't care at the moment, I want a fast build.
Not much parts inside, three sprues. Also, you don't get to use about 1/3 of the parts, as they are intended for an ordinary M-113. That's one of my reasons for tackling this kit, it has little parts, should fall together easily and look cool enough when completed... An M-113 with a huge turret on top, what more can you ask?
As much as I want a fast build, I couldn't resist some improvements. First of all, I despise... well actually HATE thick Tamiya decals. I think they are among the top 10 things I hate. This is not a Tiger or Panther, so I was wondering where I could find some aftermarket decals. If you are building an Australian vehicle, who would have aftermarket decals? Yes, Australians it is.
The top one is the aftermarket decals from Mouse House Enterprises, from Australia. I contacted them to purchase the decals, they were very customer friendly. To my amazement, the decals reached my door in Turkey all the way from Australia within 8 days! I haven't checked their site, I hope they are still standing after this global financial crisis...
This decal sheet includes all 8 vehicles that were deployed in Vietnam. I think I will build either BeastBOTHERED or BEWITCHED, since yellow on olive drab should stand out better (and I also liked those names more). The decals look OK and probably are way better than Tamiya's A4 paper thick decals.
Here's my other improvement. I am an enemy of vinyl tracks and replace them when I can. This is no exception and thankfully AFV Club has produced workable M-113 tracks which fit this kit.
So I began construction...
Threaded Mode